Two of the men accused of defrauding people in Denver’s Chinese immigrant community pleaded guilty to Class 3 felony theft charges, but one remains on the run.

Back in May, we told you about a plot torn right out of a “Kind Sir” Nigerian e-mail scam[4]: Three Chinese men pretending to be day laborers approached Chinese ex-pats living in the Metro Area asking for help with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gold[5] they’d uncovered at a fictitious construction site.

They offered to sell the fake ancient gold[6] to their marks for a fraction of its purported value, because they claimed they must head back to China.

One intrepid Denver businesswoman – Judy Jia Gallenstein[7] – helped foil the fraud[8], but not before some victims paid them tens of thousands of dollars.

Fuyan Li, 42, has never appeared for a court hearing and has a warrant out for his arrest. The Denver District Attoney’s Office said he has fled to China.

The other two – Yanwen Yang, 46, and Dejin Xu[9], 45 – pleaded guilty Sept. 8 to theft of more $20,000. A judge sentenced them to three years probation and ordered them to pay more than $80,000 in restitution to their victims. The pair paid $30,000 in restitution up front.

CORRECTION: This story listed Yang and Xu as fugitives from justice in the Colorado case. They were properly serving their probation in Colorado and awaiting deportation, according to the Denver District Attorney’s Office. They were listed as “fugitives from justice” based on unrelated charges they face in California.